Northwestern University MFA in Documentary Media

03/10/2026

NU MFA Doc alum Shawn Antoine II (Class of 2025) will have the NYC premiere of his thesis film, The Sight Unseen, at Columbia University on April 11th. See RSVP link for more info https://thesightunseen.rsvpify.com/

03/10/2026

NU MFA Doc alum Resita Cox (Class of 2021) will be hosting a public pitch session for new documentary films at Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University on March 10th. If you are in Durham, NC check it out! https://rsvp.duke.edu/event/4906d5c7-d97b-4447-be3c-c8b908a56967/summary?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Poster%20for%20%E2%80%9CThe%20Pitch%E2%80%9D%20in%20Durham%2C%20NC%2C%20inviting%20people%20to%20a%20final%20documentary%20film%20presentation%20and%20industry%20mixer%20on%20March%2010%2C%202026%20at%206%20PM%20(in%20person%20and%20virtual)%2C%20with%20a%20speaker%20holding%20a%20microphone%20pictured%20on%20stage.&utm_campaign=January%202026%20Newsletter

10/17/2025

NU RTVF faculty and student alums featured at this year's Chicago International Film Festival which kicks off today, including associate professors Kyle Henry and Ozge Samanci, and MFA Doc alums Nevo Shinaar (Class of 2018) and Naeema Jamilah Torres (Class of 2019) and Joy Norris (Class of 2018).

Industry Days is the Chicago International Film Festival’s hub for filmmakers and industry professionals to connect, share ideas, and inspire each other. This year’s Industry Days will offer networking events, workshops, and master classes around a range of topical subjects, in addition to a com...

10/15/2025

We'd like to give a BIG congratulations to our recent alum Gríma Irmudóttir (MFA Doc Media '25), as her thesis film, Memory Traces, received the Best Icelandic Short award at the 2025 Reykjavík International Film Festival! Please see more information here:

Spænska myndin Kynlegt fljót (Estrany Riu á katalónsku, Strange River á ensku), hreppti Gullna lundann á verðlaunahátíð Alþjóðlegrar kvikmyndahátíðar 2025, á

06/03/2025

🎬 Origins & Departures: Northwestern Documentary MFA Thesis Showcase
🗓️ June 11 & 12 | 6–9 PM
📍 The Block Museum of Art

These two nights of showcases are a culmination of ongoing cinematic explorations of Xiaolu Wang 王晓璐, Seunghee Chang, Blair Barnes, Gríma Irmudóttir, Shawn Antoine II, and Blake Knecht.

Expanding their practices within the Documentary Media MFA program from 2023 to 2025, they are excited to present a myriad of audiovisual experiences that respond to the ruptures of reality. These images and sounds move between the opaque, the uncanny, the mysterious, and the contemplative, traveling through the Hui Muslim Autonomous Region in northwestern China, around the watery edges of Seoul, within the Black interiority, across the highlands of Iceland, inside a 1970s Bronx apartment, and engulfed by the scorched desert of the American Southwest. These works muddle the familiar with the unfamiliar, resource irresistible whispers from deep inside, and bear witness to our collective entanglement and unraveling.

https://youtu.be/RHbpiuc0vwI?si=HEdVdSHmxhwCS9jw

🎟️ Free and open to the public.
Reserve your spot:
👉 https://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/cinema/2025/origins-departures-documentary-media-mfa-showcase-2025.html

ORIGIN | DEPARTURES NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY DOCUMENTARY MEDIA THESIS SHOWCASE .Featuring a performance by Xialou Wang and films by Seunghee Chang, Blair Bar...

05/28/2025

Congratulations to our MFA in Documentary Media alum Ian Kelly ('23), as he'll be joining Franklin & Marshall College as an Assistant Professor, teaching animation and film techniques — best wishes on your new journey!

05/28/2025

Congratulations to our incoming MFA in Documentary Media first-year student, Shireen Seno, as she's been chosen as a winner of the Han Nefkens Foundation, Mori Art Museum, M+, Hong Kong, and Singapore Art Museum – Moving Image Commission 2025! More information on the grant can be found here:

Han Nefkens Foundation, Mori Art Museum, M+, Hong Kong and Singapore Art Museum – Moving Image Commission 2025: John Torres & Shireen Seno

02/13/2025

Core faculty member Kyle Henry screens his new Time Passages documentary at NU’s The Block Museum tonight Thurs 2/13 at 7pm, sponsored by Northwestern University Pritzker Pucker Studio Lab and Northwestern University MFA in Documentary Media. With post-screening discussion with RTVF faculty and PPSL director Ines Sommer, Pyschology professor Dan McAdams, and Caring Across Generations executive director Ai-jen Poo. Reception in lobby at 6pm.

02/07/2025

Core faculty member Kyle Henry’s documentary Time Passages screens this wknd in Chiacago at the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, starting tonight, Fri 2/7 @ 6pm with aging care, caregivers and careworkers co-presenting at Q&As.

02/04/2025

A HUGE congratulations to Brittany Shyne (MFA Doc Media ’16), as her debut, feature-length documentary, SEEDS, won the U.S. Documentary Prize at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival!

In a lyrical, Sundance prize-winning debut, Brittany Shyne sows ideas about legacy and land.

01/09/2025

A big congratulations to Brittany Shyne (MFA Doc Media ’16), whose feature-length documentary, Seeds, will be screened at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival as part of the U.S. Documentary Competition! https://festival.sundance.org/program/film/6753341368b8b7e6fffe598b